iPad 2 that travels around the world fetches $1,000 in Hong Kong

Were you waiting forever in line for an iPad 2 on launch day? It turns out …

High demand and limited roll-out for Apple's iPad 2 have pushed prices as high as $1,500 on the grey market in Asia. Though iPads are produced in China, many line-waiters in the US were procuring them for shipment back to Hong Kong or China where they may not be available for months.

There were long queues of people hoping to grab an iPad 2 on launch day at Apple Store locations around the country; several Ars staff members (myself included) experienced our own long wait at the Lincoln Park Apple Store in Chicago. While in line, we separately heard several people saying they were shipping their iPad 2 to Asia. "This one's going to China!" one line-waiter declared. "I might get my own one day." And, a couple just ahead in line were getting paid an extra $100 bounty on each iPad they could provide to a courier flying to Hong Kong on Saturday.

That courier was likely delivering iPad 2s to Kurt Lo, reportedly the "master" of the Hong Kong grey market for Apple products. Lo, sales manager at Digital Action Telecom told The Wall Street Journal that he had couriers in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and LA ready to bring iPads to fulfill the 200 pre-orders his store had received.

"We have no expectations for prices," Mr. Lo said. "We will look at market conditions." But estimates put the price for a 16GB WiFi iPad at around HK$7,980, or about US$1,025. A top-end 64GB 3G model is expected to cost about HK$11,880, or US$1,525. And while some customers are Hong Kong natives, others are placing orders from Singapore and India.

In other words, customers in Asia are paying double to buy an iPad produced in a factory in Shenzhen, flown to US Apple Stores, then flown back to electronics stores in Hong Kong—just to avoid waiting until Apple rolls out the iPad 2 in the region where the devices are built.

Apple announced the first international launch of the iPad 2 will happen March 25, including Canada, Mexico, and a good chunk of Europe. The only Asia region countries include Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. Apple hasn't said when the iPad 2 will launch in the rest of Asia, but those waiting in line to ship iPads to Hong Kong said the wait could be as long as six months.

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Growing up in Hong Kong, this is nothing out of the ordinary. The same thing has been happening for years for all sorts of gadgets. I remember PS2s selling for over US$500 a day after the Japanese launch.

Having worked in the store closest to the regional airport, this happened all the time with pretty much any Apple product. It was the most fun with iPhones, as you'd need to try to explain the concept of the phone not being unlocked to someone with extremely limited English skills, that you had no idea if they would work in whatever country they were taking it back to, and no, you were not going to unlock it for them.

Which ones are you referring to? If its just the Apple threads then you need your sarcasm meter set high, if not... which ones?

The Ginger Rat wrote:

NoGoodReasonToBuyMusic wrote:

iPad... like a MaxiPad - but more bleeding edge!

Btw, hypocrite, don't whine about trolling in Android threads when you do worse in Apple ones.

Cracking a joke about "pads" can hardly be compared to the trolling that goes on in the Android threads.

Pretty much the day the "iPad" was announced the "preferred by c***s all over the world" jokes came out, I daresay my comment was not even totally original but a mashup. If you are so sensitive to even jokes against iShiny products that invite snips based on their name, you really should get yourself checked.

Hong Kong (as well as Singapore) is a rich and developed nation. There's almost no reason why they should not be getting an iPad 2 early on. They certainly have the money to pay for them.

The main reason for staggering launches by region these days is supply management. Last I heard, the overseas market is buying more Apple gadgets than the US market, and is growing faster to boot. A simultaneous worldwide launch would require at least twice the number of iPads stocked in warehouses, which in turn means twice the manufacturing time to be ready to ship. That increases costs and heightens the risk that a unit might leak into the wild before Apple's ready to announce.

Pretty much the day the "iPad" was announced the "preferred by c***s all over the world" jokes came out, I daresay my comment was not even totally original but a mashup. If you are so sensitive to even jokes against iShiny products that invite snips based on their name, you really should get yourself checked.

that was my complaint, if you're going to troll at least try to be somewhat original.

*note, i had a few jokes about the latest zune news but i restrained. i knew only i would find it funny.

Have you seen some articles written about electric cars?Watts in them? Electrifying? etc

No matter how smart you think you are after a little bit you know someone else has used bits (if not all) of your "original" though. Meaning it might be original to you but its most likely been done by someone else.What I wrote was funny to me, and original - but if there's one thing that Elon Musk has found out (and shared with us) is that you can't please everyone.

> i had a few jokes about the latest zune news but i restrained.A wise choice, the zune is an unfunny joke in itself and can't really be improved by another unfunny joke.

> Man, this is debating at its finest!Not sure if that is sarcasm or real opinion, but either way I take it as a compliment

So people overseas get to either wait months or pay double the price. Yet here in America people are whining if they can't have one NOW, at the lower price, and have to wait a few weeks. I guess they feel we're entitled to the new toys first.

I'm curious about the line workers in the factories that make these high-end electronics. Can they even afford the things that they build?

It's not just electronics. Look where clothes are made and how much they cost. Factory workers outside the first world generally can't afford anything they make. That's why they work in a factory.

Still, it must be galling to work in a factory where you slave away for 12-18 hours producing the crappy toys that go into fast food kiddie meals. Imagine spending the best years of your life making toys for a culture you don't even understand.

I'm curious about the line workers in the factories that make these high-end electronics. Can they even afford the things that they build?

It's not just electronics. Look where clothes are made and how much they cost. Factory workers outside the first world generally can't afford anything they make. That's why they work in a factory.

Still, it must be galling to work in a factory where you slave away for 12-18 hours producing the crappy toys that go into fast food kiddie meals. Imagine spending the best years of your life making toys for a culture you don't even understand.

Interesting about clothes and affordability. As I'm sure the audience knows a lot of their donated clothes end up in third world countries. Kind of hard to have a domestic industry when it can be imported cheaper.

Nice article. I've actually thought about this myself--if I were a Chinese factory worker making taco holders and other useless crap for Americans, I would have a pretty low view of Americans and their consumption habits; although I don't think these factory workers should complain much, since the crazy disposable "shit" many Americans waste their money on are what help them provide for themselves and their families.

I know The Onion is a satirical news organization, but I don't think this article is far off the mark; in fact, it's probably very accurate.

Also, I don't see a problem with factory workers not being able to afford the things they build. I doubt many factory workers at Rolls-Royce can afford a Phantom.

'cuz everyone here wants 'the real thing' for better or worse. Actually I expected the price to be higher because of the recent Apple craze around here.

As for Chinese factory workers, sure their work isn't exactly the most cutting edge and intellectually simulating, but to some of them it might just beat hanging around the village or farm for the rest their life. At least it pays more. China's not going to shoot from a rural economy to high-tech innovation driven economy in a day, year, or decade.

Here in Shanghai it's impossible to buy a iPhone 4 in the Apple Store. You can't even apply to wait for one. But on the grey market they are abundant, at a premium of course. I wish Apple could do something about that, don't know what though. Waiting for iPhone 5 so the pack get something else to focus on.

Ye gods. I know, I know: the size of the initial production run is limited, America is still Apple's primary market and new Apple devices have a pretty high shiny-value. But still: each of those iPads will have travelled somewhere around 16,000 miles to get from the factory to the final owner.

Admittedly, given the iPad+packaging probably weighs under 2lb (1.4kg) in total, total fuel consumption is around half a gallon, if the numbers on this website are to believed. But still, it's a long way to go...

"Last week, I took testimony from several young female workers from Shenzhen who said they were locked in a work room for 18 straight hours making inflatable Frisbees," Gao said. "Finally, the girls joined hands on the factory floor and began to chant, 'No more insane flying toys for Western pigs!' They quickly lost their jobs and were ostracized by their families, but the incident was a testament to China's growing disillusionment with producing needless crap for fat-ass foreigners."

Joke all you want, but the fact is that a lot of the the people paying HKD 10k for iPad2 (or iPhone 4 when it came out) are from mainland China; and yea, some of them are factories workers too, they make enough to afford the new toys now.

Hell, because the iPhone4 is till not officially available in China, people line up, or get paid to line up, outside electronic stores whenever there is news of new shipment to be delivered. Buy one new for $5000, turn around and you can sell it for $6000, or get paid couple hundred for standing around, and those in turn get ... transported .. back to ShenZhen.